The invention relates to a method for management of configuration data structures of computing resources, and specifically to a mapping engine for management of configuration-management data structures of computing resources.
Today, more complex interrelated computing systems typically used in data centers are managed with tools, often referred to as systems-management tools or systems-management systems. Enterprises often use a piecemeal approach to systems-management. Single systems-management systems may be used for dedicated systems-management tasks. Dedicated systems-management tools may have enterprise templates and policies (e.g., for security, accounting information, and/or specific user information).
However, in more complex virtualized computing environments having hundreds of physical systems, and even more virtual systems, a centralized approach to systems-management is recommended by industry specialists.
On the other side, configuration-management data in systems-management is often located in different data stores (e.g., discovery data, authorized data managed by processes, service templates, automation data, etc.). This data is often not consistently synchronized, but consistency across all the locations of the data is important to allow for a consistent systems-management across all layers.
While it is possible to keep data models of the configurations consistent when changes are driven from one layer, reconciling changes that occur at different times in different layers proves to be problematic using conventional systems and methods. In addition, discovery of already deployed systems using information in a high-level service automation model is not possible using conventional systems and methods. Additionally, intermediate level models are potentially unknown at the time of designing service templates.
In a typical situation, an enterprise may use configuration-management data of a customized abstraction model layer. Additionally, an information layer of a highest level detail called a discovery layer may be present, representing information collected from various computing components managed via a systems-management tool. This data may be collected by agents as part of the systems-management system.
If during an expansion of the data center or a switch to a more systematic approach to systems-management, a systems-management system with more capabilities and typical abstract system configurations and templates may be implemented, but there may be a missing link between the most abstract layer newly brought to a data center and an already existing customized abstraction model layer.